The setting is the Kingdom of Valacia, a small human land somewhat isolated from the rest of the world. To the west are mountains. To the east are mountains. To the north is dragon-infested wasteland. To the south is ocean. Now, they aren't entirely isolated, just isolated enough not to be worth fighting (as far as most of the other nations are concerned).

The Ocean is patrolled by a surly seafaring folk of mixed backgrounds, and they're strong enough to have forced a treaty with Valacia to dismantle any navy beyond simple fishing boats.

The mountains to the east, known as the Esterwall Range, is home to several dwarf clans. Historically, there have been several pitched battles and open wars with these clans, but for now there is a tense sort of peace.

The western mountains, appropriately called the Sinster Range (meaning Sinister, but lingual shifts over the centuries cause small changes to words, not names) are haunted, plagued by the undead and the unliving. It is said that no one living could survive there long, but there are reports of small tribes of orcs, or others, living in animalistic communities.

As mentioned, there is a wasteland to the north, known as the Har Wastes, named for being in the shadow of Mount Hargast. Mount Hargast, in turn, is named for Maekrix Hargast, an enormous fire-breathing dragon with a very wide hunting range.

North of the wastelands is the Sylvia Wood, in which is a nation of elves who call their land "Vaedijhal". Valacia is in peace with them, and both nations are eager for more contact-- Valacia because the elves know how to make enchanted artifacts and magical weapons which would be very useful in the next conflict against the dwarves, and the elves because... well, it's not entirely certain why they like Valacia all that much. But they do. If only the Har Wastes weren't in the way...

In recent years, there have been extended efforts to establish a firm trading route between Valacia and Vaedijhal, and there has been some success. By skirting the Har Wastes in small caravans, it is possible, more often than not, to send riverboats to the edge of Sylvia woods and back without attracting draconic attention-- if lucky, and if threatening enough, and if small enough. From there, it is a long journey by foot through the forest before one can reach Vaedjhar proper, but trails never seem to stay put, making it easy to get lost without elven guides. But it's worth it. A single mule that returns to Valacia loaded with enchanted items and magical weapons can make you fabulously wealthy.

Character Creation Rules

Races allowed: Any you can justifiably fit into the setting. You MUST have a backstory of where you came from, and why you would be in a party crossing the Har Wastes with a merchant caravan.

Level: 1

Classes: Lets try to fill the four roles. Any book is okay, but I maintain veto power. Note: FLAVOR IS MUTABLE. Classes are for dice mechanics only. YOU ARE ENCOURAGED to "reskin" any class in any way that is thematically viable. Call yourself and describe yourself how you want, the system is just for the dice.

Alignment: Classic 3x3 grid style alignment. NO ANTISOCIAL ALIGNMENTS. This means your character must play well with your fellow players. If you can roleplay an evil, or chaotic neutral, or lawful good character and NOT be an ***hole to your team, you can play it. If choosing one of those alignments will cause to you get a "does not play well with others" on your elementary school reportcard, don't do it. Please note that evil, chaotic neutral, and lawful good characters tend to be... troublesome, if you allow them to be. Thus, if you choose one of those, you MUST detail EXACTLY what your alignment means to your character, and why it won't be a problem.

Backstory: As has been noted, at least a little backstory is mandatory. I don't need a novel, but I would appreciate anything you give me-- particularly potential plot hooks for the future. Feel free to make up cities within the kingdom, organisations, historical events, and whatnot (subject to modification by the DM).

Equipment: 400 gp (yes, I know that's quadruple standard).

House Rules

The DM is always right, and there WILL be changes. Rules are up for discussion. If something about 4e is unfun, we will try to change it.

Numerous behind the scene changes, particularly in how skill challenges work. You shouldn't even notice these.

3.5e style diagonal movement--Movement Costs are 1,2,1,2,etc. Meaning, if you're moving diagonally in a straight line, you count "1,3,4,6,7,9,10..." and so on.

Allies provide cover in battle (meaning ranged attacks that go past an ally have a chance to hit said ally).

If you have multiple items with daily powers, you can use each item once per day (instead of only using one "item daily" per day).

I've been asked via PM to post information on more cities in the setting. So here we go:

The biggest cities I have detailed right now are Northolt, previously the northernmost settlement in Valacia, and Fort Esterwall. Both histories are fairly bloody, being frontier locations. Both are walled cities, with walls covering literally miles of landscape, meant to hold back the various monsters stemming from the Har Wastes. Esterwall also has been a frequent battleground with the dwarves.

Let's start with Northolt. These days, the monsters have been beaten back a little, and things are not quite so dire. The city grew, and grew, quite expansively, as it became the gateway to the north-- elven imports come here first after getting past the wastes. The city council is thus divided between Merchant Guilds and Military interests, with the Merchants now possessing the edge in power. Former guardhouses, military compounds, and barracks have been re-purposed into elegant walled mansions surrounded with gardens (and servant quarters). The military now mostly sticks to the wall houses, with a few posts in the city to try to keep crime down. While they are pretty good at keeping monsters out of the walls, they're not quite as good at keeping the crime down. As such, the Merchant Guilds hire heavies to do their own enforcement. As such, law enforcement is... kinda brutal.

For a picture in your head of the city, consider Disney's Aladdin without a sultan... and more water, and more trees. By this I mean multistory buildings (wooden and/or stone, depending on the district of the city), crowded markets, very wealthy people, and numerous thugs-- both "legitimate" and not.

Fort Esterwall, by contrast, is almost entirely ruled by the military, despite a large craftsman/peasant population. The buildings are all stone, and the nobility there are all martially inclined, with actual knightly training. This is because the threat of Dwarven invasion is always a possibility, despite the tentative peace of the moment. Not to mention that monster attacks are also fairly common here as well. The city is stratified-- literally, by elevation up the side of the mountains, with successive rings of walls as the city has expanded. At the highest points are the nobles, followed by military buildings, followed by smithies and warehouses for miners, followed by markets, followed by poorer districts, followed by farms outside the walls.

Crime is considerably less existent in Fort Esterwall, due primarily to the martial culture of the city, but that's not to say that it doesn't exist. You're just less likely to be mugged in broad daylight, and the wealthy are less likely to need 24 hour armed guards.

Refined ore, metalcrafts, and wine are its chief exports.

There are dozens more cities in Valacia further to the south, but I don't have details on those at the moment. When/if the players decide to head south (and as my vow to you, I will not prevent or disuade you from doing so even in the very first session) I will detail there more fully. If you need, here are some broad strokes of further south... if you ask, I'll take time to detail any of them.

It has been pointed out to me that next week will be October 31st, aka Halloween. I am still available to game, our rogue is still available to game... just checking if everyone else is available? If we have 3 people, we'll continue.